Grigori Rasputin was a Russian faith healer in the 19th century, who was known to have visions. Having gained popularity with his prophecies, he soon became a close associate and confidante of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife Tsarina Alexandra. Initially, he impressed other members of the imperial family, and churchmen. However, when Nicholas began entrusting the psychic with too much power, people turned against Rasputin, and several attempts were made to defile him. The Tsar's confidence in the spiritual healer remained strong, since on various occasions, the former's son Alexei had been cured by the ascetic. He even survived an assassination attempt, after which Nicholas II vested all advisory powers in the hands of the healer. As a spiritual person of faith, he travelled to many places, including Constantinople, Beirut, Jaffa and Jerusalem. For a brief period of time, he exerted so much control on the Tsarina, that many ministers were appointed and dismissed for no apparent reason. Finally, it was a member of the Tsar’s family, Prince Yusupov, who executed a well-planned murder of the healer. It is said, that even his own death was predicted by Grigori, which he mentioned to the Tsar in a letter, also prophesying that Russia would suffer if the murder was committed by a member of the royal family

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was born in the Pokrovskoye village of the Russian Tobolsk Governorate, Siberia, on January 21 (O.S. January 9), 1869. His father, Yefim Yakovlevich, was an Orthodox Christian coachman and peasant. The child had eight other siblings, of who, only Feodosiya, Grigori's sister, was alive.

Not much is known about the young boy's childhood, except for the fact that even at an early age, he was known for being clairvoyant.

In 1892, Grigori suddenly left home one day, and lived in a monastery for many months. Brother Makary, a sage living near the monastery inspired Rasputin to live a life of austerity.

Soon, he became a religious ascetic when he claimed to have seen 'Our Lady of Kazan', who is believed to be a form of Mother Mary. By the year 1900, he had become well-known as a wanderer, also known as a 'strannik'.

In 1903, he travelled to see the 'Monastery of the Caves' in the Ukranian capital of Kiev. In Russia, his claims of having visions made him a mystical phenomenon amongst the elite class and the bishop.

Rasputin also planned to request the Orthodox Saint John of Kronstadt to provide financial help for constructing a church in the village of Kazan. During his trip, he put up at the ‘Saint Alexander Nevsky Monastery’, where he got acquainted to Saint Hermogenes.

In 1906, the Tsar, who had earlier seen troubled times, put his faith in Grigori, and asked the latter to cure future prime minister, Pyotr Stolypin's daughter, who was hurt as a result of a bombing incident. The healer was able to provide relief to the injured girl, impressing Tsar Nicholas II.

The same year, he was invited by the Tsar to pay a visit to Alexei, the son of Nicholas II and Alexandra. The young child, who had hemophilia B, was bleeding profusely, resulting from an injury. The doctors were unable to treat him, sure of the fact that Alexei would not survive.

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Rasputin, however, assured the royal family, that it would take time, but Alexei would be cured. He stopped the aspirin prescribed by the doctors, prayed for the boy's recovery, and Alexei was better by the next day. This miraculous act sealed the Tsar’s faith in the spiritual healer and his powers.

With Grigori's increasing popularity with the royal family, the count of his enemies also began to rise. In 1907, the intuitive healer faced severe controversy, when he was accused of being a womanizer. These allegations however could not be proved, and the case was withheld for a brief period of time.

In 1911, along with other ardent pilgrims, the ascetic travelled to places like Patmos, Tripoli, Constantinople, Beirut, Cyprus, Jaffa, and finally Jerusalem. He also took out time to meet Orthodox priest Iliodor, who himself had a large group of followers.

The next year, another round of controversies followed for Rasputin, where former friends, Hermogenes and Iliodor accused the faith healer of having a physically intimate relationship with the Tsarina.

They even provided the Tsar a set of letters written by Alexandra and her daughters, as proof. They conspirators were soon dismissed, since the Tsar had complete faith in Rasputin.

Several attempts were made to sever the relationship of trust that had formed between Grigori and Nicholas II's family, but to no avail.

This bond strengthened when the Tsar's son Alexei needed treatment once again, in 1912, and Grigori was summoned by Alexandra. The child felt immediate relief, though it took him almost a year to recover completely.

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By 1914, Grigori had begun playing a major role in the politics of Russia. The Tsar and Tsarina blindly accepted his suggestions, and they were but mere puppets in the hands of the psychic.

He even suggested that the World War I would prove to be catastrophic for Russia, and it would be better to make peace with the Germans. This, however, was a suggestion that the Tsar did not heed to, and it cost him his empire.

On February 2, 1887 Rasputin got married to Praskovia Fyodorovna Dubrovina. The healer and his wife had two sons, Dmitri, Varvara and a daughter, Maria.

In the month of July, 1914, an attempt to assassinate Rasputin was made by a masked woman. The murder attempt stemmed from increasing jealousy at the healer’s close ties with the Tsar. Grigori survived the assassination after a doctor performed surgery on him to save his life.

Later, it was Saint Iliodor and statesman Vladimir Dzhunkovsky, who admitted to having planned the murder.

Prince Felix Yusupov, who was the husband of the Tsar's only niece, Irina Aleksandrovna, invited Rasputin to his palace in December, 1916. When the healer reached there, he was murdered by Yusupov, who laced Grigori's food with poison, and then shot him to death.

The healer was interred at the 'Chesme Church' near the Tsar's palace, and the ceremony was attended by the royal family and a few other friends